


Change

by Neila_Nuruodo



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Angst, Gen, Patch 5.0: Shadowbringers Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-08-11 00:57:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20144917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neila_Nuruodo/pseuds/Neila_Nuruodo
Summary: **Shadowbringers Spoilers**Immeasurably long ago, a calamity raged.  The star's salvation stilled it but sent out smaller shockwaves, tiny calamities in the lives of the survivors.Hades and Persephone's last meeting.





	Change

“You’ve changed.”

I turned to look at Persephone, and it was like looking at a stranger. _I’m not the one who’s changed, my dear._ I kept the hurtful words from my tongue. “Everything changed. And for the better. No more creation magics running rampant, no more terrible beasts spawning and killing everything in their path. The star has been mended.” She crossed her arms, and the gesture, the distance in her unmasked face, hurt me. “Not all change is bad, you know.” I stepped closer, reached toward her cheek. She jerked back, driving the pain deeper.

“Maybe not. But… if you were still _you,_ you wouldn’t like to see yourself like this. Always on about what Lord Zodiark wants. Heavens, Hades, you shaped that thing yourself! You took the life energies of half our people…” Her voice broke for a moment, and she covered her face, grief crumpling her shoulders. I felt it too, the awful weight of the souls I’d held, the dear ones who gave themselves over to save their own dear ones. “You made something that could stop the madness, yes, but you fell thrall to it.”

“And what would you have had me do instead? Let the entirety of our people be destroyed? Everyone else on the Convocation agreed there was no other solution that offered any real hope.”

“There had to have been another way.” Her voice was a pained whisper.

“So you said when you left. And what did you find?”

Anger broke through her grief. “You _know_ I didn’t have enough time! How could you…” She turned away.

“Yes, as Architect it was my duty, my privilege to shape Him. An unprecedented and unpredictable act, and yet it worked perfectly. Now the star has its own mighty, magnificent will, and never again need we fear such a calamity destroying our people. What’s more, those who gave themselves up _can yet be restored!_ How can you not want this?”

She spun to face me, and my frustration died at the naked tears rolling down her face. “More sacrifice! Can your vaunted god not give of its own strength to restore the lost? Surely it doesn’t need so much power, not with how you… you poor thralls are feeding it aether. How can you not see? It will never be sated.”

I spread my hands. “If such is the will of the star, who am I to deny it? He deserves our reverence, our gratitude. Without Him, our people would no longer exist. I can accept that you may not wish to bend the knee, but surely you must harbor some tenderness in your heart for the reason you and I yet live.” She just stared at me, tears still spilling from her eyes, one by one, and I sighed. “Why did you come here? Not to say that I haven’t missed you, but you don’t seem to have missed _me._”

She laughed at that, an abrupt bray, and wiped her face on her sleeve. “But I have, Hades. I have missed you… so terribly, ever since that horrible day when you created Zodiark. I guess… I just wanted to see if there was anything left of the one I loved.”

Again the daggers in my soul. I tried not to let it show on my face, almost wishing I hadn’t removed my mask upon seeing her. “I’m right here,” I told her softly. “And I won’t be going anywhere. Maybe you can find another way; maybe not. But know that I’ll wait for you either way.”

She took a deep breath. “I will find a way. That I promise you. I’ll find a way to restore you no matter what it costs me.” My heart swelled as she approached me, took my face in her hands, and kissed me, a barest brush of lips. It felt like goodbye, and my chest constricted once more. Her eyes, luminous and sad, burned into me for another second, then she spun for the door, almost running. My hand reached out toward her, hoping to stop her, hoping she’d turn back.

She didn’t.


End file.
